Neytiri in Heat:
by wave1347
Summary: Complete. Takes place in that 3 months of Na'vi immersion before all hell breaks loose. Started off humorous, but is becoming more serious as it evolves. Hopefully it will have a fairly believable progression to Neytiri and Jake's early relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Grace had warned him that morning, in one of the most uncomfortable conversations he'd had since coming to Pandora. She'd broached the delicate subject with her characteristic directness.

"Neytiri is in heat."

A spoonful of Cornflakes paused halfway to Jake Sully's mouth, and he looked up from a Na'vi language guide Norm had made for him.

"Excuse me, Doc?"

"Neytiri. In heat." She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Wait, you mean like a dog does?" Jake put the spoon down with a smile and an incredulous laugh, waiting for the joke.

"Oh, that's nice," Grace said. "I can already see the pictures forming in your head. No, not like a dog. It's – " she paused, thinking. "Look, all Na'vi women go through it. In human years, Neytiri is a little over 18. It's sort of like when a teenage girl hits puberty. But instead of menstruating every month, they experience one extended period of heightened arousal. Why are you blushing?"

Jake felt his face burning and ducked his head and cleared his throat. "Look Doc, why are you telling me this anyway?"

"Because as long as you're learning from her, you're spending the most time with her. Just keep your eyes open, huh?"

"You make it sound like I'm going into a battle or something."

"I've been teaching the Na'vi for ten years, marine, so take this for what's it worth: You'd be safer in battle."

"Okay, well, thanks for the warning, but I think I can handle it." Jake pushed his chair back. "These Cornflakes must be older than Hell's Gate. Come on, time to link in."

Grace followed him to the back of the tiny structure.

"I'm telling you this for your own good," she said, busying herself at the controls of Jake's unit. "I've been tracking Neytiri's growth since I came to this place. The Na'vi are very regular about the timing – she is definitely in heat, and probably has been for a few days. It's going to be reaching its peak soon, okay? After that it should start to back off a little."

Jake had already hopped into the machine, and he automatically dragged his legs into position.

"So, what am I supposed to expect, Doc?" Jake said, propping himself up on his elbows. "She going to throw herself at me or something?"

Grace snorted. "Aren't you confident. And no – but a spear isn't out of the question." She leaned down and pushed Jake's head back. "Look, here's a security briefing for you, and I'll even use small words: imagine a woman in a pissy mood from PMS, and combine that with a manic depressive. Oh yeah," she said, nodding at Jake's incredulous look. "She'll be up and down, and I mean way up, then way down. The other Na'vi will take it in stride. Just watch out if she decides to channel some of it towards her new pupil, huh? That Avatar was expensive."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Jake demanded, finally feeling a little nervous.

"Just try not to say anything too stupid," Grace said as she lowered the hatch. Jake heard a muffled thump as she smacked the top of it. "And for Christ's sake, don't mention this conversation to her. I'd rather keep any anger focused on you."


	2. Chapter 2

Jake reentered his Avatar just in time to feel Neytiri's sharp rap to his forehead.

"Hey, ow!" He sat up quickly and backed to the edge of his hammock. "What was that for?"

"You sleep too much," Neytiri said. She was hanging one-armed from a branch above.

"Yeah, I bet you'd be surprised how little I get," he grunted, absently studying her. _No obvious weapons_. In the shafts of sunlight streaming through the branches, her limited clothing was a lot more apparent. _Right. No _obvious_ weapons. _

He reached a hand out to Neytiri and smiled. "Well? You gonna help me up?" He waggled his fingers a little.

Neytiri snorted in disgust and grabbed his forearm with a loud _smack. _She easily pulled herself up with her other arm, and Jake's grin faded as she walked along the length of the branch, holding him out over empty space. Jake looked down at his kicking feet, beneath which was a lot of potentially sharp foliage, the great spiraling path, and at the very bottom in the common area, the skull of some giant monster, where he had been presented to the People last night.

"Whoa, whoa," he said, reaching out to her. "Ow! Okay, I'm sorry, I'll get onto the damn branch myself. Wait!" he corrected himself frantically. "Next time, I mean. _This _time, _you_ put me on the branch, right?" After a few very long seconds, she did.

Jake backed up a safe distance, rubbing his aching shoulder. He noticed a dark blue-purple bruise already spreading on his wrist cyan skin.

"Come," Neytiri snapped, bringing his attention back up. She whipped around in a rustle of beads. Jake followed, but he made sure to keep a lot of space between them. It wasn't a bad view, anyway.

The crossed a few small wooden platforms linked by bridges made of something that looked like bamboo, and that transitioned so smoothly to the living tree itself that Jake didn't even notice. What he _did _notice was that the other Omaticaya that they met on their winding descent gave Neytiri a lot of room, and one older woman with a baby strapped to her chest smiled at Jake almost – ruefully?

At the bottom of the path, Mo'at was waiting for them.

"My daughter, please go and bring some water to me," she said, cutting across Neytiri's half-uttered greeting.

Neytiri glared at her mother for a very brief moment, and then turned and stalked out of the inner ring. Avatar and Tsahik watched her go, and Jake turned around only when he heard the rustle of Mo'at's beaded hair.

"Hello, Jakesully," she said, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"Um, good morning." Jake cleared his throat and glanced around, but the real show was _up,_ where the massive vault of branches arched over them, and sunlight winked through as it was obscured and revealed by rustling leaves, swinging bridges, lean blue figures.

"You are ready to begin learning about the People?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I mean, yes. I'm ready."

Mo'at smiled in that fierce Na'vi way, and placed a dry hand on his sore shoulder, and Jake winced slightly. Mo'at snorted softly like a cat, glancing down at his wrist.

"I see it has begun already, then," she said. She held Jake's eyes. "Neytiri is a strong child, Jakesully. You will not hurt her. In the beginning, she will be hard with you. Be hard as well. She is a warrior, the same as Tsu'Tey and the other men. Perhaps, you two can find a balance. It will make things better for you both."

Jake heard a snarl behind him in the distance, and even through the slight commotion that followed he immediately recognized Neytiri's strong voice. Mo'at touched his shoulder again. "It would be best for us both, Jakesully, if you did not mention this conversation to my daughter." She gave the same rueful smile the woman on the bridge had done. Jake had had no idea that Na'vi faces could be so expressive.

To her mother Neytiri handed a strange looking leaf/cup, then grabbed Jake's arm and yanked it, jerking her chin for him to follow her back outside the way she had come.

Jake massaged his twice-ill-used arm as he trailed behind Neytiri in the wide path she cut through the other Na'vi. He figured Na'vi mating rituals were probably non existent. If any male was still attracted to a Na'vi woman after a few weeks of this, it had to be true love. He'd have to ask Grace about it after his Avatar went to sleep.

"_Skxawng! _Come," Neytiri snapped, turning to glare at him as he lagged too far behind.

He wondered if he'd wake up in the link unit after being knocked unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: My funny bone, brittle in the best of times, is broken on this story. I realized that Neytiri has plenty to be pissed off about, especially at Jake, the first soldier she's met with whom she is at an advantage. Putting a humorous angle on this was becoming difficult, and I wasn't enjoying the struggle, so I'm just going to let this evolve as it will. I hope you enjoy it anyway, even without the laughs._

_Also, for those who haven't read the script: In the original idea, Neytiri had an older sister who was shot and killed right in front of her at Doctor Augustine's school. Bear that in mind towards the end of this chapter. _

They spent the entire day alone in the forest, not talking much. But as he followed Neytiri, Jake didn't feel the same tension he'd felt back in the village, and it soon felt almost natural, touring this prehistoric rainforest with a nine foot tall blue alien woman.

Neytiri knew the land for miles and miles around, and she took him in a broad circle around Hometree, stopping him when she spied a plant or mushroom she felt he needed to know about.

They came to a bright clearing among the trees, dotted with red plants spiraling open like fountains.

"Hey," Jake said, "I know these." He approached a plant that was almost taller than himself and tapped the spiraling red flower on top. _Shtoonk! _It sucked itself down into the ground.

He was startled when Neytiri laughed and came to stand next to him. She touched another plant – _shtoonk! - _and it disappeared as well. "It is called _loreyu – _you say 'beautiful spiral." Her smile was bright and sharp, genuine.

There, standing in the sun streaming down through the lighter canopy, seeing Neytiri smile and laugh for the first time, Jake could have no idea how painful and wonderful she was going to make his time on Pandora.

Neytiri glanced at him, and Jake quickly looked down. He realized he'd practically been gaping at her.

She jerked her head at the grove, making her bone and wooden jewelry rattle. "When I was young, my first hunt alone came here. I was stalking a _yerik - "_

"_Yerik?_ Jake asked automatically. He thought it sounded right.

Neytiri made a frustrated noise. "_Yerik_," she said slowly, then crouched down to scratch at the dirt. She stood a moment later and tapped Jake's leg with her bow, pointing.

It was a rough drawing, stylized like the cave paintings they'd made everyone learn about in grade school geology. It looked like a six-legged deer, but it had big fans or ears instead of antlers, and of course the ubiquitous pair of tentacles that seemed to trail from the head of every animal on Pandora. _Yerik_.

"I followed it here, and it went into the flowers. But I was young, and I - " she tapped another flower (_shtoonk!). "_It ran from me. I was very angry. I was glad that no one was with me to see."

Jake had to smile. It was strange to think about her making a mistake – like all the Na'vi, to Jake she seemed invincible in the forest.

"First time I saw these things I ended up getting chased a mile by a Thanator," Jake offered. "Thanator, you know – big cat, armored tail?"

"_Palulukan_?" Neytiri said, looking at once impressed and disbelieving. "You ran from p_alulukan_?"

"That's how I got separated from Doctor Augustine. I had to jump off a cliff into the river to get away from it. That was the night you found me in the forest being chased by the viper wolves."

They began to walk again, side by side this time. "The Na'vi do not speak of _palulukan_ in song or ritual," she said. "He is the biggest hunter in the forest, he will hunt even Na'vi."

As they walked, Jake enjoyed retelling the tale of his escape. He didn't have to embellish to make himself sound either very skilled or very lucky. From the way Neytiri snorted as he explained how the thanator had pulled off his pack and let him escape, he knew what her opinion was.

They walked for another ten minutes before the sky suddenly bloomed above them, and they were in another, larger clearing. Among the mammoth trees, he felt tiny as an ant. Now he felt absurdly comforted at being one of the tallest things in the area. There were no _loreyu _here, just small plants and grasses.

And a building?

Neytiri hadn't moved, and Jake glanced at her before leaving her at the clearing's edge. Definitely a building. He could pick out details beneath the overgrown exterior: wooden walls, thatched roof. The door was hanging on its frame.

When he got closer, he let out a low whistle. The entire front of the building was shot to pieces, like there had been some sort of Bonnie and Clyde shootout.

"Hey, what is this - " he stopped, realizing Neytiri was still at the clearing's edge, eyes bright, face blank. He jogged back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "What is that place? It's shot all to hell. Looks like somebody took it for a shooting gallery."

"Shooting gallery," Neytiri said dully, looking over Jake's shoulder.

"What? Oh, yeah. It's a place where humans – soldiers, you know – train. And they set up targets and try to shoot them for practice."

He turned around and looked back at the building. He'd have to ask Doctor Augustine about it when –

Neytiri made a high, pained noise behind him, and he was only halfway turned when she collided with his back, sending him sprawling in the dirt.

"Shooting gallery!" She hissed down at him, pointing with one clawed finger. "Sky people think everything is about killing! That was the school. That is where I learned your English, that is where my sister – " her face twisted miserably, and she angrily blinked away tears. Jake got to his feet and backed away slowly.

"Soldiers did that!" Neytiri raved on. "Always soldiers, like _you_."

"Hey, I didn't have anything to do with that," Jake countered, remembering Mo'at telling him to stand up for himself. "I just got here, alright? I'm sorry you lost your little school, but what's the big – "

Neytiri leaped the distance between them like an antelope and swung her bow at his head just like she had the first time they'd met. Jake didn't get his arm up in time. The hard wood cracked against his temple, and a bolt of sickening pain shot through his head. He felt his legs give out, and had one last absurdly clear thought: She_ just knocked me out. _Colors exploded as the world tilted and he fell onto his side. Neytiri stood above him glaring down furiously, and then everything went black.

When he opened his eyes, it was to the darkness inside his link unit.


	4. Chapter 4

Jake Sully heard some muffled commotion outside the link unit. He squinted his eyes against the light as Doctor Augustine opened the cover, looming over him like an angry tiger. He automatically put a hand to his head, confused briefly about which body had been hit.

He groaned and let Grace and Norm help him to a sitting position.

"What the hell happened?" Grace demanded.

"Got hit," Jake grunted, shaking his head tentatively, instinctively expecting pain and finding none. "Neytiri swings a mean bow."

"She knocked you out?" Norm said, looking amazed. "What did you - "

"Where's the Avatar?" Grace cut in.

"You tell me, doc," Jake said. "Some clearing with this shot up old building in it."

Grace's face clouded, and she looked suddenly tired and gray. She reached for the cigarettes in her tshirt pocket. "That's the school," she said.

"Yeah, that's what Neytiri said, that it was where she learned English."

Grace lit a cigarette. "I think you better explain exactly what happened."

"What about the Avatar?"

"Doesn't matter. You won't be able to go back while the body is unconscious anyway." She chewed her lip and looked over at the other link units, as if contemplating going in herself. "We'll just have to hope it's alright on its own for a few minutes. Now start talking."

Jake recounted the exchange, how Neytiri's attitude had improved all day and then suddenly went south there in the clearing.

"This is all cause she's in heat, doc?" Jake asked when he was done.

"This is because you put your foot so far into your mouth you're tasting your knee," Grace said. "Jesus marine, you probably said the worst thing you possibly could in that situation. I guess we're lucky she used her bow and not her knife."

"Mo'at told her to teach him though," Norm said. "So this isn't so bad, right? She has to do what her mother said, so once she calms down...?"

Grace shook her head, finishing one cigarette and immediately jerking another from the package. "I don't know. Jake's partially right. The heat is affecting her judgment. Right now she's riding high on her emotions, and I don't know what she'll do."

"What's all this about her sister?" Jake said. "I didn't know she had a sister."

Norm rolled his eyes and walked away. "Why am I not surprised?" he said over his shoulder.

Grace ignored him. "Neytiri had an older sister named Sylwanin. She was killed by RDA soldiers at the school, right in front of Neytiri."

Jake looked stunned, opened his mouth to speak, closed it. He shook his head, looking down. "I didn't know that," he said. "If I had - "

"I know," Grace cut over him. "The Na'vi know every inch of that forest. She didn't bring you there by mistake. She might not know why she brought you there at all. You're the first soldier she's been able to have an advantage over, Avatar or not. She's still so angry about her sister's death." Jake could see Grace was still angry about it as well, see it in how she violently crusher her cigarette then crumpled the pack in her fist.

"So what do we do now?" Jake said. Norm rejoined them. "I mean, once I get back into my Avatar, what next?"

"If Neytiri is still there? Just business as normal," Grace said. "And we pray nothing else like this happens."

"What if she left? She was pretty pissed, doc, and nighttime didn't go over so well for me last time."

"We could send Trudy to pick him up," Norm suggested.

Grace and Jake both shook their heads.

"Out of the question."

"No way."

Norm raised his hands in surrender. "Just an idea, guys."

"I can't let the Na'vi see me just run back to base when I get in trouble," Jake said. He was also thinking about what Quaritch would think if he blew his chance at implanting with the Omaticaya.

"Right," Grace said. ""No, we've got this great opportunity here. We can't throw it away like that. It's worth a little risk. If Neytiri isn't there, you've got to do your best to get back to Hometree on your own, before it gets too dark."

Jake nodded. "Then let's go." He leaned back, pulling the interior cage down over his chest.

"You okay to go back in so soon?" Grace asked, as Norm calibrated the controls.

"Yeah, I got this. I can make it back."

"Alright," Grace said. "Good luck."

He reached up and pulled the lid closed.

Jake sat up in the clearing and coughed. One of those six-legged deer things bleated in fright a few meters away and bolted for the cover of the towering trees.

Groaning, Jake pulled himself to his feet. His face felt sticky on the side Neytiri had hit him, and his fingers came away with drying blood.

_Red blood_, he thought, abstractly interested. He'd never thought to wonder what color Na'vi blood was.

Neytiri was gone. She might have been watching him from the camouflage of the trees, but he doubted it. She was probably hoping another thanator – _palulukan –_ came by and finished the job.

He made a mental list of his problems. At the top of the list was that he didn't know where Hometree was. Even the smallest trees stretched up hundreds of feet, blocking his view like a curtain all around. He couldn't even get on top of the school to look around.

An idea dawned on him slowly. _But I could get on a tree_.

He immediately set off back into the forest, back the way they'd come. His human body was strong, but his Na'vi body was something else entirely. Grace had amused him once by doing fifty one-armed handstand pushups back at Hell's Gate. He remembered how Neytiri had been able to easily hold him straight-armed out over the branch back at Hometree. He could climb a tree. He just needed to find one tall enough.

_Or hell, any tree_. The canopy above was so thick that even if the tree wasn't the tallest around, he figured he could just hop to the next one, and the next, until he was able to look out over the forest. Hometree wasn't more than ten miles away, he reasoned, and it would be literally impossible to miss, once he got his head above the leaves.

A few hundred feet in, he spotted a large, moss-chased tree with a tempting, low-hanging branch that he could use. It was really kind of amazing how easily he was able to pull his body up onto it. The Na'vi were really incredible.

With many scrapes and cuts, it worked. At the top of the tree, with the wind on his face, he could see above the leaves, see Hometree blotting out the horizon. There was already a glow amid its shadowy branches, lit by the bioluminescent insects the Na'vi held in skins, placed along the branches like street lights.

Night was sneaking quickly into the sky. He knew it would take him more than a few hours to get back to the village – he'd have to climb trees every now and again too, to check his course. His marine training came back to him. Better to stay concealed now when he was at a disadvantage. It would be different than the last time – he was in control this time. He could handle the night. So far the only things he'd seen much of in the tree tops were those lemurs, and Doctor Augustine had said they weren't aggressive. He knew there must be dangerous things in the tree tops – this was Pandora, after all – but his chances were better up here than down on the forest floor, with the viper wolves. He would have to ask Neytiri – or more likely Grace, as things stood now – how the Na'vi kept the packs away.

The Pandoran nights were mild, and he was comfortable enough in the open air. The tree's massive trunk had a deep deformity close to the top, and he was able to tuck himself into the space well enough. His limber Na'vi body was even fairly comfortable. He would sleep, and wait with Grace and Norm for morning before coming back. Maybe they could give him some tips on how to navigate the forest a little better, so he could get back to Hometree.

He closed his eyes, and his mind fled the Na'vi body for his human one hundreds of miles away. If he'd been awake, he might have heard Neytiri go hurtling through the forest beneath the tree like a gazelle, might have heard her wordless noises of frustration as she searched the school clearing for him. She called over and over his name into the night as it began to glow.


	5. Chapter 5

Talioang = Sturmbeest. Also: hehe, sorry. Left my notes at the chapter's end. Everyone forget about all that. *waves his hands mystically*

Neytiri cast about frantically in the dim clearing. Over there was the schoolhouse. And over there was the dried blood where Jake had fallen prone. But where was Jake?

She rushed up to the schoolhouse, frantically circling the structure, even leaping onto the roof to get a better view of the clearing.

"Pxasìk!" she finally snarled, splintering the thatched roof with a fist. Her tail lashed as she leaped down and tried to tame her frantic thoughts.

Jake would not have remained unconscious for long after her blow. But when she had left, trembling and furious, the darkening sky wasn't in her thoughts. Later, as she had raced back, she assured herself that he had taken shelter in the school, the human building. With that comforting thought dispelled, rising panic and guilt began to replace frustration.

She remembered the Atokirina' lighting on him like bright feathers. Eywa had chosen him for something. Eywa would protect him in the night. Unless... Maybe Eywa had counted on her to protect Jake. Maybe that was why they had met in the first place. And she had left him alone, defenseless like a child.

She sank into a crouch in the cool grass, pressing her hands against her head. It was night, but he was clumsy among the plants. She could track him. He couldn't have gone far. As long as he hadn't encountered any viper wolves, or other night hunters –

In the distance, a screaming roar, ragged and terrible. A shiver spangled up her back. That was Palulukan. He was hunting this night.

Slowly, a terrible certainty stole upon her, seeming to rise up from the ground like a shadow.

Palulukan's hunting range was very big. It would be the same one that Jake had escaped from before. He could sense prey a forest away. And he would remember Jake's scent, his sound.

Neytiri's heart began to quicken as though she were already running. The forest was silent now, even of insect noises. She waited, crouched on the balls of her feet.

Again the dreadful roar. It was enough to tell direction. She plunged back into the glowing woods.

She ran like a deer, slipping over and around some obstacles, then ripping through others in her haste. Palulukan hadn't found Jake yet, or the roars would come more often.

She sped up, leaping a wide gorge, setting a group of startled fan lizards into iridescent flight. She landed gracefully on the other side and hung her bow over her neck as she ran.

Another roar shivered the air, suddenly too loud, too close. Neytiri pulled up short so quickly she nearly lost her balance. She slipped over to a massive tree, where the shadows of the trunk would hide her. She tried to quiet her heaving breaths, flicking a bead of sweat from her eyes.

She was stupid, to come this close so fast, so loudly. Her heart thudded in her ears, drowning out the forest sounds. Blood pulsed hotly behind her eyes, in her throat.

She forced herself to calm down, listening to her heart as it gradually slowed. Good, slow breathing.

And then the ground trembled under her feet. And again. Again.

Something huge was approaching, pounding closer to the other side of the trunk. She lifted her face to the air and her nose flared as she scented the breeze – Talioang, she knew. But only one. It must have been separated from a herd sleeping nearby.

Neytiri's mouth was suddenly dry with fear, and her heart was again in her throat. Palulukan had set a trap for this animal, and she had walked right into it. She pressed her back against the tree trunk, casting about with wide, frightened eyes. She didn't dare move. She didn't dare stay.

On the other side of the tree, she heard the animal give a startled snort, as it too tasted the air. Perhaps smelling Neytiri, or sensing the approaching apex predator, the beast suddenly turned and rushed away, leaving a thunderous silence in its wake.

Neytiri sighed quietly and stepped away from the tree.

The roar this time shattered the air, left her ears ringing. From around the tree facing Neytiri the thanator's massive armored head emerged. It's bristling quills twitched and vibrated, and it turned to look straight at her with eyes black as hate.

She fled, sprinting automatically in the direction of Hometree. She wouldn't make it that far, but there was even less hope of fighting it. She cursed herself and her panicked flight. Jake wasn't here, and he was much safer than she, now.

Lithe forest dweller scrambling through roots, dodging through thickets of grass and brambles, trailing a spray of blood where a thorn ripped through her skin.

Rushing black monster, closing the distance, bending and splintering trees, smelling blood and meat and fear. It leaped.

Neytiri screamed as the beast's paw knocked her to the ground. She yanked herself along the ground, gritting her teeth as the behemoth's giant claws tore gashed down her back. She regained her feet, disoriented, and stumbled forward again, hearing nothing but a high rushing sound.

The thanator leaped up beside her and swept its armored tail at her back, splintering her bow, sending her sprawling again to the ground. She groaned, coughing blood into the dirt, and then she was up again, running.

She heard Palulukan leap again, felt the breath of his strike, and formed a desperate plan in that instant. She leaped forward and twisted in the air, drawing an arrow as she fell. Slavering black death fell from above, dwarfing her. She held the arrow high, and aimed for the unarmored spot beneath its jaw.

Smell of the beast, musky and close as the thanator landed above her. The explosive roar shaking her ears as she rolled away. And the thanator rearing up on its back legs, swiping at the poison-tipped arrow lodged in its jaw. It landed heavily on its feet again and hissed at her, crest rising and falling. Then it staggered to one side and fell heavily to the ground.

Neytiri scrambled away from the body, lightheaded with shock and blood loss. She shook her head and fell to her knees, and all the sound of the forest and her own ragged breathing came back to her ears.

She stared dumbly at the huge creature. Palulukan wasn't dead. It took many Na'vi arrows to kill it, more than she had. But one would be enough this time, enough to stop it for a little while. Itcould not climb well, was too heavy for the higher branches of the trees. She would climb, and it would find new prey. She stumbled away, looking repeatedly over her shoulder at the still-breathing monster until it was out of sight.

Nearly an hour later, Neytiri found a tree she could climb, with a sturdy low branch to get her off the ground, and an easy progression halfway up the massive bole. The beast's tail had broken something inside her chest – raising her arms was sharp, bubbling pain. She was bleeding heavily from the slashes in her back, less so from a dozen other wounds. The top of the tree split in and out of focus as she clawed her way to the top.

And as she approached the apex, she smelled... something familiar. Na'vi, but different.

And then when she was forced to claw to the other side of the trunk to continue her ascent, she saw him. Tucked into a deep depression in the trunk... was Jake. Sleeping. Unharmed, glowing very faintly in the semi-dark.

"Jake," she gasped, coming to rest on a branch that curled out in front of the cavity. She fell forward, grabbing his shoulder for balance and shaking him weakly. "Jake! Wake up!"

He didn't respond; the slow pattern of his breathing didn't change.

"Wake up," she said weakly, her hand falling away.

She sat for a while on the branch, threading in and out of consciousness, unable to make herself move. She finally leaned forward and pulled herself into the hole in the tree as well, pushing Jake aside to make room. It was a difficult fit, even for her slender body.

She heard Palulukan roar somewhere out in the forest. Shivering even in the mild Pandoran air, she pushed herself under Jake's arm and rested her head beneath his collar bone. When she closed her eyes, she could only relive the fight with the thanator.

Eventually, mercifully, unconsciousness claimed her.


	6. Chapter 6

_You know what I just realized that would be cool? If the thanator from Chapter 5 was the same one Neytiri rides at the end of the movie. Their ranges are about 300km, and they hunt alone, so it would make sense, too. Gives that scene where it drops down to let her ride a little more kick! Ah, well. On to Chapter 6._

Jake was up early that morning, when the daylight was still a weak blue outside the windows. He wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to find his way back to Hometree.

A hundred miles away, tucked into a depression in the trunk of a massive treetop, Jake's Avatar still slept peacefully. Curled up against him was Neytiri, desperately seeking warmth as her own warm blood dripped. A rusty stain spilled from the depression and down the side of the tree. On the forest floor, a curious hexapede sniffed at red-spattered leaves near the trunk.

In the Hallelujah Mountains, Jake poked unenthusiastically at a mound of quivering scrambled eggs.

"Do we really have time for this?" he asked Grace, who had pulled up a chair next to him. "And I know there aren't any chickens on Pandora to lay these eggs."

"Don't worry, it's edible," Grace said. "It's pretty good for being six years old."

Jake choked on a gelatinous forkful and quickly took a big swallow of water.

"You could've been done by now," Grace pointed out. She jabbed a fork of her own at his plate. "You've been losing weight. Now eat that crap like a Marine and then we'll get you hooked up."

Resigned, he set to. "Where's Trudy 'n Norm?" he asked through a huge mouthful.

"Supply run," Grace said. "They'll probably be back soon." She tapped her feet back and forth under the table for a few moments, watching Jake eat. "Okay, good enough." She grabbed his plate off the table. "Let's go."

She beat Jake to the link unit, and by the time he'd pulled the cage down she'd already finished calibrating. She leaned over him in the unit.

"Remember, just get back to Hometree. And I bet Neytiri will be looking for you by now, if she isn't already waiting for you to wake up. I can't imagine Mo'at's reaction to her just leaving you alone like that."

"Alright doc, beam me over then. Like to be back to Hometree in time for dinner."

"Yeah, right. Just watch out for thanators this time." She closed the lid on his smart response and hooked him in.

Jake opened his eyes to Pandora's treetops, and there was something in the cavity of the trunk with him, something big, pressing in against him.

"Jesus!" he said, leaping out onto a branch with an unconscious grace he'd never have believed of himself. He whirled around to face the bole, raising an arm in defense automatically.

His wide eyes searched the tree for a few silent heartbeats before he realized what he was looking at.

"Neytiri!" he gasped. When he had moved she had collapsed onto her side in the cavity, so he leaped onto the trunk itself, grasping with one arm the choking tangle of vines and plants that covered it. He reached in automatically to touch her, wake her, and then jerked his hand back.

With the shock of flight fading, his eyes began to absorb more details. Her bow was splintered; her hair in places had been ripped from its careful braids. There was at least one huge gash in her back that he could see. The side of the tree was stained red in a narrow trail down the trunk– he too was covered in blood, dry on his chest, cold and sticky on his legs.

For one black, vertigo-inducing moment, he thought she must be dead. A wave of sick heat prickled up his back and face. Blind with quick panic, he stretched his free hand into the hole, laid it against her chest. Warm. She twitched once under his hand. Blood pounded painfully in his ears, but he could breath again.

Later, he would puzzle to Grace about why the thought of Neytiri's death hurt more than even the reality of Tom's. Grace would merely roll her eyes and say "Hormones", laughing to hide her concern.

"Okay," Jake said. "Alright." He perched at the very front of the depression, as far back as he could to give himself room to maneuver. "Alright, this is going to hurt."

He reached in and grasped Neytiri's shoulders, trying to get the leverage to sit her upright. When he finally had her with her back against the wall, he crawled a little further into the hole and laid his face against her neck. A thready pulse jumped under his cheekbone while he fished his hands behind her back. Wincing at the feel of the torn flesh there, he slowly began to slide backwards, pulling her along inch by inch.

Just as Jake had worked her to the edge of the hole, she came to, hissing weakly as he tugged at her.

Jake jerked back in order to face her. "Hey," he said, "Hey." He tapped her cheek lightly and peered into her heavy-lidded eyes.

"Jake," she said quietly.

"Yeah, right here."

She looked down at herself, and Jake had to grab her to keep her from toppling. Her eyes slid closed.

Jake gently slapped her cheeks, trying to capture her eyes. "Neytiri, what happened?"

The Na'vi princess shook her head. "Home," whispered. "Please take me back."

"Yeah, working on it," Jake said, glancing over his shoulder, down the long, winding trunk. "I'm gonna have to carry you. Can you hold on?"

Neytiri nodded fractionally.

He had to sit on the closest branch to the hole, which was a few feet lower on the bole. He held his arms up as Neytiri feebly pushed herself out into the air. He caught her, wincing as she drew a breath in over her teeth, and carefully arranged her into a fireman's carry, so he could use one arm to aid his descent.

It was a torturous climb down for them both, and by the time the soft forest floor was under Jake's feet again, he was heaving for breath, arms trembling from the strain.

Jake set Neytiri down as gently as he could, pressing her forward to lie on her stomach. He blanched when he saw the extent of the wounds on her back – the skin was pink and jaggedly torn, bleeding again from the descent. He knew immediately that she had already lost too much blood. If he carried her back to Hometree, she'd be dead by the time he arrived. And the longer they stayed here, the more likely the scent of blood would draw... god, what? Something big.

From his throat came a growling noise his human body would never make. Beneath his frantic conscious a sub current of thought was thrumming with his heart: You were in trouble. Neytiri saved you. Neytiri is in trouble. Save Neytiri.

He stood indecisive for another moment before suddenly coming upon an answer that was probably insane, but also his best option. He sank into a crouch next to Neytiri.

"Neytiri. Neytiri! Wake up. I need you to think for a minute. Do you know where we are? Okay. I need directions."

After repeating to himself several times their location relative to Hometree, Jake scooped Neytiri up and set her down gently in a tangle of roots not dissimilar to where he'd tried to escape the thanator. He sat down next to her, putting his back against one particularly massive gnarl.

"I need you to stay with it, okay?" he said to her. "Just for a little while."

"I do not think this is a good idea, Jake," she murmured.

"You're right," Jake said. "It's a bad idea. But it'll work."

Neytiri nodded at him, baring her fangs in a token snarl.

"Okay," Jake said. "Yeah. I got this." He had to make it just hard enough to do the job, but not hard enough to last long. Breathe in. He leaned forward away from the root and closed his eyes. He'd never done this intentionally before. Now breathe out. He whipped his head back, hard, and saw only a flash of bright white. Then he was back in his link unit, only a little over an hour since he'd left.

* * *

"Jake!" Grace said, leaping up from her station at the microscope. "What in the hell?"

He finished pushing open the link unit. "Neytiri's dying, doc. We need help."

"Neytiri's – what? And how did you get knocked out again?"

"Hard root, soft head. Listen, Neytiri's hurt bad, she's lost a lot of blood. I can't carry her all the way back to Hometree, I don't know if she'd make it."

"Son of a bitch," Grace muttered, shucking off her lab coat and throwing it at a chair. "Stay," she commanded, then ran off into the forward section of the improvised lab.

She returned a minute later with Norm and Trudy. Norm had a bag of chocolate covered pretzels in his hand and a look of blank shock on his face. Trudy was all business.

"Tell me where you guys are," she said shortly.

"Twenty miles or so south of Hometree," Jake said. "Maybe more. Neytiri says there are four really tall trees – taller than the rest – near where we are, arranged kind of in a tight square."

Grace sighed in relief. "I know that place. It's a Hometree in its early stages – a young grove beginning to grow together into one bigger organism. I was going to take samples there eventually."

"Then you're up front," Trudy said, grabbing her helmet off a table and strapping it under her chin. She glanced over at Norm, who had dropped his pretzels and was rapidly configuring both his and Grace's link unit at the same time.

Hoping his Avatar had recovered by now, Jake lied back down in his unit. "We'll be waiting," he said before pulling the lid closed.

Grace slid into her link unit. "Trudy, get us ready to go." The pilot took off through the door. Grace half sat up to look at the other scientist. "Norm - you're going to be our gunner. If anything tries to stop us, scare it off or shoot it down."

She leaned back and made a mental list of the medical supplies that would be any good for use on a Na'vi. It was a short list. She shifted uncomfortably - something was poking into her from her back pocket. A crumpled pack of cigarettes, now in her hand, now thrown out into the lab as the lid closed.

The cigarettes bounced off the table onto the gray floor, and outside the engines of Trudy's Samson roared to life.


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's note: Thank you to everyone who's enjoyed this story so far, and posted kind reviews. It really means a lot to me that you enjoy what I'm writing! _

_This chapter is a little slower than the previous two – less action. This current arc will hopefully be done in the next chapter, or maybe two. After that though, I'd like to keep writing on the story and fleshing out that long period of learning Jake goes through. I hope you enjoy the chapter. _

When Jake opened his Avatar's eyes, they immediately sought Neytiri.

She hadn't moved, was still propped up against the nest of roots across from him. She watched him blearily as he blinked and shook his aching head.

"They're coming for us," he said, wincing.

"Rescued by sky people," Neytiri murmured, musing or disgusted.

"Grace is coming too. She'll be able to help you."

"Grace," Neytiri repeated quietly.

"Yeah, Doctor Augustine, you know her. She's coming right now."

Jake was having trouble capturing her twitching gaze, and there was a pallor to her blue skin that was alarming. He decided that keeping her conscious was most important. He needed something to keep her focused on reality.

"I didn't know that you had a sister," he finally said.

Neytiri took a slow, hitching breath, eventually focusing on his face. "I was angry, Jake," she said. "If I hadn't attacked you - "

"Yeah, I've had worse," he interrupted her. "Maybe you can make it up to me sometime. So, your sister," he prompted again.

She breathed in. "Two sisters." Pause for breath. "One, she is still at Hometree. Younger. Sylwanin... was older."

Too hard, Jake judged, watching her wincing breaths. Broken ribs. Broken something.

"I'm not an only child either," he said. "I had a twin brother."

"Twin..."

"Yeah, twin, you know. Born at the same time. Don't Na'vi have twins?"

Neytiri shook her head. "Animals, only."

"Oh." He'd have to ask Grace about that.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry about your sister. Grace told me about it."

Neytiri was silent – her head lolled back, and she stared up at the treetops.

"We're not all like that," Jake said. "Not all soldiers would do that. Most soldiers are good people. The ones that came here..." How could he describe to her the type of people, the mercenary attitude? "Not all humans are bad."

"You... were a soldier."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Why was a soldier? I don't know, a lot of reasons. I wanted to do something that mattered." Even to himself it sounded like something out a cheap recruiting video.

Neytiri was shaking her head. "No, not why soldier... why - " she gestured weakly at him, and he then understood.

"Why am I here, like this?" He thought carefully, wanting to keep his answer simple. "I was hurt," he said. "And I was never going to get better. I had a chance to come here, to Pandora, and I took it. I wanted – to escape, I guess. I had to change something."

"You would not have shot Sylwanin." Her overbright eyes challenged him.

"No," Jake said firmly. "No. We – I – was taught, only shoot someone as a last resort, only if they're going to hurt you, or other people. What happened at the school – " he shook his head, and then said something he never expected to say. "What they did... some humans do deserve to die."

He couldn't even imagine how Quaritch would react to that statement, but he knew the man wouldn't understand, or even try to. In that instant of reflection, whatever clear lines had been drawn in the sand were muddled. The thoughts were disturbing, and he suppressed them.

Jake suddenly stood and went to Neytiri. He sat next to her, touching shoulders.

"I didn't... want to die next to a sky person," Neytiri whispered.

Jake got on his knees in front of her, hands on her shoulders speaking into her face. "Hey. No, no no. You're not going to die. Grace is coming, she'll get you patched up. Instead of hunting and riding you can just teach me the language for a few weeks."

Neytiri was a Na'vi huntress – she wouldn't cry for herself. But she was afraid. Taking a risk, he put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in closer, giving her the comfort of his touch. He wasn't Omaticaya, but he was still Na'vi – or close enough.

Further conversation seemed pointless. She'd said nothing when he'd brought his arm around her shoulders, so he brought his other one around in front and pulled her close. He brought her practically into his lap, and she pressed herself in desperately against his warmth. The deep wounds on her back were bleeding less now.

He held her, feeling confused and protective. Why should he feel this way about some violent native woman who had almost knocked him out once, and then actually knocked him out a day later?

He found himself talking quietly to her about Tom, about coming to Pandora, about his fears, even about the scientists laughing over Grace's account of his escape from the thanator. It was easy to be honest with her. Some of these things he'd never spoken aloud to anyone. Neytiri's eyes were fixed and and glassy, her lips ashen, but her ears twitched as he spoke, and he knew she was listening, if not comprehending.

As the minutes stretched on into what felt like hours, fluttery panic started to build in his stomach. The world had felt so solid just a short time ago.

* * *

It had been half an hour when he finally heard the Samson.

He quickly looked up, scanning the patches of blue sky that he could see. Heart pounding, he gently disengaged Neytiri and laid her on her side. The scream of the engines was growing louder – Trudy must have pushed the craft to its limit to get here so quickly. He felt a great upwelling of affection for the gruff pilot.

The air above him suddenly_ whumped_, and the dark underbelly of the Samson was in the sky, the gale of its arrival bending branches and scattering leaves.

"Hey!" Jake yelled, jumping up and down and waving his arms. "Hey, here! Down here!"

They must have seen him. The Samson flew a slow circle directly above and then took off more slowly to the east. Follow, the movement said.

Jake let himself feel some cautious hope. "Alright, come on," he said, scooping Neytiri up off the ground. "Our ride's here." She hung limply in his arms. Jake ran.

Trudy had landed a few hundred yards away, in a flat space barely wide enough to fit the craft. As he broke into the clearing Jake noticed some small and not so small branches littering the ground – apparently they'd decided to make their own entrance.

He saw Grace's familiar red tanktop as she and Norm's Avatars leaped to the ground, ducking their heads against the tempest thrown up by the engines even as they slowed. Jake ran over to them as they pushed gear around in the Samson to make room.

"In, in, in," Grace said, looking frightened, waving Norm to help Jake lift Neytiri into the vehicle. She looked over her shoulder at Trudy in her exopack and aviator glasses. "Don't take us anywhere yet, Trudy."

The pilot nodded and thumbed a few switches, and the engines finally spun to a stop.

"What? Why not?" Jake demanded, leaping up into the Samson. "We gotta go, doc! We – "

"First we need to decide if she's going back to Hometree, or to the hospital at Hell's Gate," Grace said, shucking off her coat and pulling on a pair of Avatar-sized latex gloves. "Or if she could even survive the trip. Norm, let's turn her over."

Norm took Neytiri's legs, and they rolled her over to lay on her stomach.

"Jesus," Grace muttered, gently touching one of the three long gashes, the spangled bruises, the blood. "Norm, get me an IV with some saline." Trudy was already handing a large box back from the cockpit, and the scientist began to pull supplies out of it.

"What happened to her, doc?" Jake asked, feeling useless, trying to stay out of her way.

"Thanator," Grace said immediately. "The Na'vi can kill or run away from pretty much anything else. And it's amazing this is the worst of it, that she's even alive." She prodded gently at Neytiri's back, grim and efficient. "Deep lacerations. At least two broken vertebrae. Maybe only bruised. She's in hypovolemic shock," she went on. "Massive blood loss."

Norm handed her the IV and bag. "Saline," Grace said, looking up at Jake. "The solution draws fluid from the surrounding tissue and increases the blood volume. I don't have anything fancy here that will be much good to a Na'vi. Their physiology is just too different." She waved Jake closer and gave him the bag of saline. "Hold it up," she commanded.

Jake took the bag and sat down by Neytiri's head where he'd be out of the way. Meanwhile, Norm and Grace set to cleaning the largest wounds on her back.

He looked down at the Na'vi princess. He realized she was beautiful in repose, even according to human standards. Tentatively, he reached out and brushed a few tight braids off of her face, tucked them back behind one pointed ear. Something lurched in his heart, and some quiet, logical part of his brain told him that this was dangerous. But with women, Jake had always fallen hard or not at all.

Behind him, Grace was busy with a needle, and he marveled at the sure precision in her strong hands. She was just as comfortable in her Na'vi body as human, that was clear. Feeling her firm control of the situation, the helpless feeling he'd felt all day finally began to abate.

Just then Neytiri stirred a little, wincing.

"Neytiri," Grace said, not looking up, busy hands stitching and tying. "Can you hear me?"

She didn't respond, merely screwed her eyes shut tightly, baring her small fangs.

"It's Doctor Augustine – Grace. Do you remember me? You've grown a lot since I saw your last. I hear you've been roughing up my marine."

Neytiri didn't respond, and Jake looked anxiously from her to Grace. "She's gonna be alright, doc?"

Grace nodded. "I think so, yes. Quaritch is right when he says it – the Na'vi are very, very hard to kill. But if you'd tried to take her back yourself – if she'd lost much more blood – " She gave him a rare, genuine smile. "Good call, Jake."

Norm turned to Trudy, who was leaning around to watch, now grinning widely. They slapped high fives.

"Take us to Hometree, Trudy," Grace said. "And no acrobatics this time please, I'm stitching here."


	8. Chapter 8

_Author note: Winding things up here! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Looks like chapter 9 will be the last part of this arc! I had no idea I'd spend so long on this story! Thanks for everyone's kind words - they mean a great deal. _

The shadow of the Samson dipped and rippled as they flew over the rugged canopy. In the distance, dwarfing even the mammoth trees of the forest, was Hometree. Jake saw winged shadows wheeling and flying above the topmost branches – at this distance they looked like birds, but they must have been huge. He tugged Grace's sleeve and pointed.

"_Ikran_," Grace shouted over he engine and rushing wind. "Banshees, most people call them."

"Banshees?"

"Kind of like big flying lizards!" Grace called. "Think dragon mixed with shark. The Na'vi ride them. Ask Neytiri later, she rides one too."

It was amazing to him now, after all that happened today, that they could casually talk about 'later'. He found himself grinning widely into the wild air. He would move closer to Grace to talk, but Neytiri had hold of his arm, perhaps caught in some fever dream. He was a little embarrassed about being so thrilled by just that contact. _Down the rabbit hole, Jake,_ he thought.

"We've got company," Trudy's voice suddenly crackled over the speakers. "Lean out and look down."

Jake leaned out one door, Norm and Grace out the other. Blow, he wasn't entirely surprised to see a group of hunters on dire horses, pacing them along the forest floor, sliding over and around obstacles, into and out of shadow. The Na'vi were racing them to Hometree.

"They're not gonna shoot at us, are they?" Trudy said.

"They might," Grace said. "Maybe if – Jake, go get into that doorway. If I get in this one, once they see one of us, they'll know not to shoot."

"Yeah, doc, but what if they don't know who we are?" Jake gently disengaged Neytiri's hand and moved.

"Oh, they'll know," Grace said. "See that horse in the lead there? I think that's Tsu'tey."

"Wonderful," Jake muttered, taking his spot in the doorway. "You know, he might shoot me anyway, doc," he called over his shoulder. Grace only laughed at him. Jake realized that she was barely holding in her excitement – she hadn't been this close to Hometree in years. Norm, too, looked like he was ready to jump out of the Samson in his haste to see things from the ground.

Trudy knew better than to approach Hometree too closely. She set down in a clearing some ways away from the colossal, twisting trunk. The Na'vi nearby backed up out of the way, but did not flee. By the time they had landed, the group of dire horse riders had surrounded the Samson with bows drawn and arrows knocked. Grace leaned out and called something down to the hunters in Na'vi.

Whatever it was, it worked. They lowered their bows. Jake saw that even is Tsu'tey wasn't sighting an arrow at them, he still looked ready to fight.

Grace leaned over Neytiri and withdrew the needle from her arm. She grabbed a fresh bag of saline.

"We need to keep these formalities kind of short," she said. "The sooner we get her lying down and comfortable, the better. The Na'vi have some pretty potent medicine of their own, so we probably won't need this -" she jiggled the bag "- but better safe than sorry."

Trudy cut the Samson's engines and looked over her shoulder at them. "All the same to you guys, I'm gonna stay with my plane," she said.

"Thanks, Trudy," Jake said. "We'll try to hurry." He gently lifted Neytiri against his chest and stepped out among The People.

Jake scanned the crowd of silent faces. Predictably, it was Tsu'tey flanked by two warriors who was the first to approach. The imposing trio faced Jake silently, looking from him to the Samson to Neytiri. He faced them as stoically as he could.

Tsu'tey spoke at last. "When she did not return, the Tsahik said Neytiri was in danger, because she went to find you."

"She found me. We found each other," Jake said, trying at once to sound strong but not confrontational.

Tsu'tey stared impassively at him. With Neytiri in his arms they couldn't attack him, but how much of what had happened to their princess would be seen as his fault?

Tsu'tey shifted his stance, made a minute gesture with his arm. "I see you, Jakesully," he said flatly. He looked past Jake, at Grace and Norm standing in front of the Samson, and raised a fist towards them, stony-faced.

"The Tsahik is waiting for you," he said, turning and walking away.

"Wait," Jake said suddenly, taking a step forward. "Tsu'tey."

The Na'vi warrior stopped, but didn't turn around. Jake saw his ears twitch a little.

"I see you," Jake returned.

Tsu'tey stood silently for a moment longer before turning to speak over his shoulder. "Neytiri will not be able to leave Hometree until she is healed," he said. "Tomorrow, I will teach you how to shoot like a warrior." With that he leaped onto his horse again and cantered off towards Hometree.

Tsu'tey's tacit acceptance of Jake seemed to be the signal the other Na'vi were waiting for, because a number of Na'vi women immediately approached Jake, waving him forward, gesturing at Hometree.

"Wait," Jake said, "wait." He turned toward the Samson, where Grace had been mobbed by a group of younger Na'vi, all chattering excitedly, pulling her down onto her knees, patting and hugging her. "You coming, guys?" Jake called. "Come on, don't abandon me now!"

Grace shushed the children and stood, smiling more widely than Jake had ever seen her. Norm followed along behind her, looking up and around in silent awe.

A procession lead them towards the sky-scraping Hometree, which seemed to grow with every step. Neytiri shifted slightly in his arms, and impulsively Jake squeezed her in hug. This place, which had seemed to alien to him two days ago, now seemed as welcoming to him as his own home as a child had been.

Inside Hometree, at the base of the great spiraling walkway, Mo'at and Eytukan greeted them as they had when Jake had first been presented. The other Na'vi feel back respectfully, and Grace and Norm backed up a few steps.

Eytukan stepped forward first and placed a strong, gnarled hand on Neytiri's brow. He smiled down at his daughter.

"Thank you, Jakesully," he said slowly, his accent so heavy Jake had trouble following him.

"I – you're welcome," Jake responded lamely, stopping himself from looking back at Grace for help.

The clan leader put his warm hands on Jake's shoulders and squeezed once. He turned and spoke briefly to Mo'at in Na'vi before addressing Jake again. "Neytiri loves... flowers." He pronounced the word carefully. "I will go and find some, to be with her while she rests." With that he walked back out the way Jake and the others had come in, calling to other nearby warriors, presumably commandeering their services for flower-picking.

Mo'at stepped forward now, looking regal and intimidating. Dragonlady, spiritual leader.

"Jakesully," she began, "you have been with us for only a day, and already you have done this for us. By bringing back our daughter – it is not a debt we can easily repay."

Jake cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, it was my fault she was out looking for me in the first place," he said. "And I didn't do much, it was Norm and Grace who saved her, not me." He gestured back at his two friends.

"Yes, I see your friends," Mo'at said. She made a thoughtful noise and stepped past Jake. Norm looked properly awed as she approached – he was practically gaping.

"What is your name?" Mo'at asked him.

"Norm" the biologist said blankly, eyes wide. "Spellman." Then he seemed to remember himself, bowing his head and gesturing gracefully at Mo'at, speaking in rapid Na'vi.

Mo'at smiled and stepped closer, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Thank you, Normspellman. You are welcome in our village."

Norm swallowed hugely, his throat working, torn between grinning and looking solemn. Mo'at seemed to understand everything he couldn't say, and turned to Grace.

"I see you Grace Augustine," she said, going so far as to bow her head. Grace returned the gesture, inclining her head more deeply.

"I see you, Tsahik," she said.

Mo'at examined the scientist, and Jake suddenly realized this wasn't a first meeting for the two women. Obviously they had to have met when Grace's school was running.

"I have missed you," Mo'at said simply. "As the children have. And there have been so many underfoot without your school." She smiled more genuinely, more like the Na'vi woman she was and less like the title she held. "I am glad Eywa brought you back to us. Thank you, for helping my daughter. We would be happy if you would come to see us more often after today."

"Thank you, Tsahik," Grace said quietly, and Jake saw tears at the corners of her eyes. He hadn't realized until then how much it had cost Grace to be cut off from the Na'vi as she had been.

The women spoke briskly back and forth, and then Grace made another formal bow and stepped back, reaching out and giving Norm a brief one-armed hug.

"Now, Jakesully," Mo'at said, turning back to him, "you may take our friends back to your sam-son. I will take Neytiri to her hammock." She smiled at him. "Would you like to see her when she wakes?"

"Yes," Jake said immediately. "I would like that. Thank you."

Mo'at shook her head. "Thank you, Jakesully." She called a few others over, and Jake carefully relinquished Neytiri into their arms, and they gently began to carry her up Hometree's spiral steps. "I will send someone to find you when she wakes," the priestess said.

Jake tried to mimic the formal bow he'd seen Grace and Norm make, and then they headed back out into the dappled shade outside the trunk.

When they got back to the Samson, Jake wasn't surprised to see Trudy still in the cockpit, looking very nervous. Probably understanding the human's feelings, no Na'vi had yet approached. The pilot let out an explosive sigh when she saw the three Avatars.

"Everything good?" she asked, strapping herself into her seat. "We good to go?"

"Good to go," Grace said. Norm leaped up into the copilot seat.

"Guess we'll see you tonight, marine," Grace said, climbing up.

"Grace, hey, wait," Jake said. "I need a favor."

Grace rolled her eyes, smiling. "Well I guess I owe you one," she said.

"Those pictures, taped to the fridge back at the lab," Jake said. "One of them had Neytiri and her sister in it, right?"

Grace nodded. "Sylwanin. There're a couple pictures with both of them in it."

"There any way you can fly one out to me?" Jake asked. "I know it's kinda far, but - "

Grace had reached behind her and pulled out a leather knapsack. "You're sweeter than you look, kid," she said, putting it into her lap and unzipping it.

"There are a few pictures at the lab with both of them in it," she said, finally prizing something out of the bag. "But this one is the best one I've got." The photo looked small in her hand as she held it out to Jake.

He took it carefully. It was Neytiri and Sylwanin, and seven or eight other Na'vi youths, posing like some kindergarten class. The two girls were smiling widely – Neytiri even had two of her fingers up in an unmistakable "peace" sign.

After a long look at the photo, he raised his head. "Thanks, doc," he said. "I'll see you guys tonight."

"Watch yourself, marine" Grace said.

The Samson left the ground in a roaring of engines, kicking up a huge spray of dirt and leaves. Jake folded his hand over the picture protectively and backed away - soon the plane was just a distant glimmer in the bright sky.

Jake stood there for a few moments, feeling the eyes of the other Na'vi on him. Then, not knowing what else to do with himself, he set off to find Neytiri's hammock. He could wait there with the Tsahik until she woke up.


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note 2/26/10: Alright, so I've decided to end this story here, at Chapter 9. The title wouldn't make sense in later chapters, anyway. I'll be taking chapters 10 and 11 and reworking them to be the beginning of a new story, as soon as I figure out an engaging plot. There are also some one-shots I want to try in the meantime. Thanks for reading! _

_Authror's Note: Thanks to everyone who has read this far! This will be the last chapter of this phase of the story. I'm glad so many people seem to have liked it. I hope this last chapter resolves things in a satisfactory way - but after all, only so much can happen in two days! I do intent to expand this and explore more of what could have happened in that vague, 3-month period among the Na'vi, but there are some other stories I might like to do first. Thanks for reading!_

Neytiri was lying in her hammock, and the other Na'vi seemed to be deliberately avoiding the area out of respect for her need to rest. Watching her as he approached, Jake was struck by how strange it looked, seeing her in her Na'vi loincloth and jewelry, but also crisscrossed with human bandages, wrapped from her waist to her shoulders.

Her large eyes were still closed, but this was a different quality of sleep than her earlier, half-delirious dips into unconsciousness. Some of her healthy color was already coming back, and the dried blood and grime had already been cleaned from her skin. He found himself just looking, smiling – and when the quiet voice of reason stirred again in his head, it only gave him a sleepy nudge that he easily brushed away. The damage to Jake was already done, though it would take a few months for him to fully realize just how deeply over the past day Neytiri had sunk her own claws into him.

He noticed her eyes were open now, alert and discerning as a falcon.

Jake ducked his head, though he was helpless to banish the smile on his face. He halfway raised a hand, and she nodded her own greeting.

"_Palulukan_ has both of our scents now," she said by means of greeting. She turned her head to look down through the hammock and branches to the clearing below. "It will be dangerous for us to leave Hometree at night, until he forgets us."

Jake laughed a little. "Yeah, he's one bad kitty."

She would not smile, and gave him her too-solemn eyes. "Thank you, Jake," she said quietly.

He shook his head. "No, if you hadn't come looking for me - "

"Do not make excuses for me!" The flash of temper was the most fire he'd seen out of her today, more like the Na'vi huntress he'd met in the forest, who had knocked him on his ass before even speaking to him.

Jake stood in awkward silence for a moment, watching Neytiri sit up with painful hitching breaths, knowing better than to offer his help. She frowned down at her bandages.

"Will you tell me what happened? I do not remember many things after the night."

"Yeah," he said, "I'll fill you in. Here, let me - " he stepped out onto the branch from which his own hammock was hanging and swung down into it, already much more graceful in his Na'vi body than before. He managed to fold himself into a sitting position without swinging around too much. "There. Alright, where do you want me to start?"

"_Palulukan_," Neytiri said, glancing perhaps involuntarily out at the darkness beyond the branches. The monster was out there somewhere, huge and terrible among the shining flora.

Jake told her everything he could remember of the day, from waking up in her pooling blood, to his desperate plan to get help from Grace and the other scientists. Neytiri listened in silence, nodding occasionally when some detail jumped out from her muddled memories.

"Grace says you're lucky you survived the attack," Jake said.

"Yes. Few have ever managed to escape palulukan after he has struck them."

"Has it happened to many Na'vi?" Jake asked, intrigued.

Neytiri looked up. "Us, only," she said. "Since before the Sky People came."

The silence around them gave the exchange a curious gravity and sense of significance. And it was hard to tell in the swaying shadows of the branches – was Neytiri blushing at the implied bond involved in that?

"All Na'vi know the signs of_ palulukan_, how to avoid him," she added quickly.

"Not all Na'vi," Jake said, grinning in a way calculated to annoy.

Neytri muttered something, a guttural, unpleasant sound.

"Wait, what was that there?" Jake asked. "Did you just swear at – "

"_Skxawng_," Neytiri repeated loudly, glaring. When he only raised his eyebrows at her, she made a frustrated sound. "It means one who is – not wise. Someone who is a -"

"Moron," Jake said.

"- Fool," Neytiri said at the same time.

Jake grinned at her. "Doctor Augustine would probably agree with you."

Neytiri looked surprised at his casual deference, and when she looked down again, he thought it was to hide a small smile of her own.

"Hey, can I sit with you for a second?" Jake asked. "There's something I wanted to show you." The photo's sharp bottom edge was digging into his hip, tucked into the waistband of his loincloth.

Neytiri nodded and shifted over in her hammock, watching him curiously as he jumped up the branch again. He lowered himself into Neytiri's hammock, moving carefully from the branch to keep from jostling the Na'vi huntress. When they were seated facing each other at opposite ends, he pulled the photo out from behind his back and reached out to her with it.

Neytiri looked from his face to the small rectangle in his hand, then carefully seized it by one corner, as he had. She glanced again at Jake before examining the photo more closely, and then a disbelieving, gasping smile transported her face.

"Sylwanin," she whispered, reaching down to touch her sister's face with one fingertip. "That is my sister!" she said, looking up at Jake, now finally with a genuine smile. "Grace made this! I have seen it before, but after all Sky People were banned from the village - "

"I'm glad you like it," Jake said.

Neytiri was nodding, looking down at the picture, searching it with wide eyes. Her smile trembled at the corners and she wiped at a tear.

In that small, comfortable silence, something had been built to connect them. Neither knew anything about the other, but they could no longer be strangers.

"Jakesully!" a whooping voice floated up from below, startling him. "Jakesully!"

"Hey, what's going on?" Jake said, peering down through the loose weave of the hammock.

"They want you to eat with them," Neytiri said, surprised. "They must have heard the story of what happened already. They will want you to tell them of it."

Mo'at suddenly came into view around the winding staircase. "They are very gratefully, Jakesully, that you brought Neytiri back to The People," she said. "Tsu'tey has even made a space for you next to him at the fire. He would like to hear about your own escape from _palulukan_ also." She smiled. "It is a good way to make friends among the Na'vi. Go, eat with them. I will stay and speak with Neytiri."

"Ma'am," Jake said automatically. He glanced down at Neytiri as he climbed out of the hammock, but she had bowed her head deferentially to her mother. The friendly calls of the other hunters preceded him down into the tree's warm heart.

* * *

During dinner, Jake had to stop himself from frequently glancing up at the sleeping hammocks. When he excused himself, the other Na'vi men teased him about retiring early, but let him go gracefully.

As he was hoping, Neytiri was still awake, lying down again. He felt her eyes as he claimed his own hammock.

"You should get some shuteye," Jake said. "You know, Doctor Augustine would be mad if I let you stay up too long after everything that happened."

"I will sleep soon," Neytiri said simply, staring up at the sky.

Jake could tell he wasn't going to draw her out this time, and he felt his own exhaustion as soon as he lay down on his back. The hammocks were much more comfortable than the plank that they called a bed back at the remote lab.

He closed his eyes to the shadows and cyan of the branches, breathing slowly as he prepared to unlink._ Eighty seven days to go, Jake. _

Just before he fled down the neural link to his other body, he heard the rustling shift of Neytiri's hammock, followed by a stiffer sound, like the brush of heavy paper. He smiled in the dark, knowing without seeing – Neytiri, on her back, holding the photo up in front of her eyes, the flickering fire below making her sister's face seem alive.

When he woke up in the link unit, in his ears was the echo of her quiet, delighted laugh.


	10. Chapter 10

_Author Note: This begins the second arc of the story, picking up right where Chapter 9 left off. Jake continues with his immersion into the Na'vi. More secondary characters are added, but no OCs._

_Nobody panic. This chapter doesn't have much Neytiri. But she and Jake are still the main characters, and the plot will involve her just as much as the other 9 chapters did. And I hope no one is rubbed the wrong way by how I build everyone's personalities – I'm still learning about them, too._

_This chapter is very similar to how it was the last time I posted it, before taking it down. I've decided it fits in well enough as it is - it's more of a character-building chapter than a plot-advancing one anyway. I hope you all enjoy. I'll try to keep updating!_

He'd been with them for so short a time, but already Jake was being surprised by the Na'vi. Much of what he'd presumed to know about them had been proved incorrect.

From what little he'd seen of the Na'vi, Jake had assumed they were a hard, quiet people – he'd thought the dangerous moon of Pandora wouldn't allow them to be anything else and survive. But in watching how they dealt with the wounded Neytiri, he saw that instead of being driven to coldness and isolation, they had banded together to form a community that was so unified, so together that it seemed to be practically an organism in itself. It seemed to Jake that nearly every tribe member had come to see Neytiri and thank Eywa (and sometimes Jake) for her return, and to see if there was anything they could do for her. Only when everyone was satisfied that Neytiri was safe and comfortable did the rush of visitors die down.

It was late morning – the day was beginning to warm. Jake had brought Neytiri some food from the cook fires, and they ate in silence in their respective hammocks. True to his word, Tsu'tey had already come by and told him that they would be shooting arrows this afternoon, so Jake wanted to spend what time he could with Neytiri. He was a little nervous, going out with Tsu'tey without her to translate and moderate. But Tsu'tey spoke English just as well as she, and even if he was still cold and standoffish, hadn't he tacitly accepted Jake as more than just another 'demon'?

"So how long you off your feet for?" Jake said, swallowing his last mouthful.

Neytiri was only picking at her food moodily. "Until the bones in my back are healed."

"Yeah, spinal injuries," Jake said, shrugging. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

"No," Neytiri said flatly.

Jake laughed inwardly. The fiery huntress really didn't deal well with having her activities restricted. _You wouldn't last two days in my body,_ he thought. He flexed the muscles in his thighs. These legs work pretty good, though.

"You will use my bow," Neytiri said. She glanced over her shoulder at the walkway behind them, gesturing with her chin. "It is with my belongings. When you are ready, Mo'at will show you where."

"Tsu'tey wanted me to meet him after eating," Jake said.

"Then you should go now." Neytiri set aside her food, mostly uneaten, and drew her long legs up under her chin, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Shoot well, Jake." She looked away, face inscrutable.

To Jake, who was coming to see how Na'vi and human body language was very similar, that look raised a lot of questions. With a pleasant flutter, Jake considered that maybe Neytiri had been looking forward to teaching him in her own time. But really, he reasoned, she was probably just embarrassed that someone should be shouldered with her responsibilities while she healed.

Neytiri rolled over and gave him her back, so Jake simply bayed her goodbye and went to find Mo'at.

The Tsahik was seated on the bottom level of Hometree, entertaining a small group of young Na'vi. Jake watched her from the stairs for a few minutes.

As with the Na'vi, Jake found his first impression of her had been mistaken. Here he saw not the dragonlady, the intimidating Na'vi matriarch and spirit guide – here was just another Na'vi woman, laughing and toeing the line of making a fool of herself. Jake found himself smiling as he watched the laughing group. These people were nothing like what he'd been told to expect. Unbidden, his mind flashed to Quaritch. He had a report due. Already, he was subconsciously filtering out scenes like this – Quaritch wouldn't care. And it seemed to him that it would be something of an insult to the Na'vi, to even attempt to bring Quaritch across.

Jake shook his head. Those were thoughts he would leave for his human body. Today, now, he would learn to shoot a bow. Later he would have dinner with Neytiri, and she would teach him the Na'vi language, or maybe explain about different plants or animals. The body lying in the link unit wasn't his until he went back to it.

Mo'at looked up, and she actually smiled when she saw him – it really was amazing, the difference saving a tribal princess could do for your reputation.

When Jake explained what he needed, Mo'at took him back up the winding path, circling the massive bole of the tree. They stopped beneath the hammocks, and here the trunk was dotted with recesses and shallow alcoves – Na'vi garments and weapons were hanging everywhere. Mo'at drew him over to one ornate rack hanging from the trunk. It was a simple construction, with a supple piece of wood shallowly bent in a smile, tied together at the ends, with a colorfully died hide stretched above them. Pegs were tied to the wood, and from them hung various belongings. Neytiri's bow was hanging from the center peg, with two arrows bound to it.

Jake examined the other items, mindful of Mo'at's presence. Beaded jewelry and wooden charms hung next to poison tipped arrowheads and a knife with a bright white shell embdeded in the pommel. It was an interesting mix – soft and hard, pretty and violent. Like Pandora itself. Like Neytiri.

When he lifted it, the bow was surprisingly heavy, smooth on his skin. It was warm in his hands from hanging in the sun.

Jake found Tsu'tey waiting just outside of Hometree's sheltering trunk. There was a woman standing with him, shorter than both of the men, thin like all Na'vi women, but muscular like a marble statue. Without a word, Tsu'tey waved his hand for Jake to follow, and the three Na'vi set off in an easy lope for the forest.

It was easy for Jake, easy for his Na'vi body. He didn't think he'd ever tire of it. Running, more than anything, made him feel like he was in a dream. After he'd lost the use of his legs, running was what he'd remembered the most, the loss that pained him most. And that had evolved into dreams of flying, from which he'd wake in a sweat, heart-pounding and exhilarated.

They ran out into the forest, ducking under arching roots and dodging between hanging tendrils and plants, until they came to one of the many small clearings the forest offered.

The two Na'vi turned to Jake. Tsu'tey spoke. "This is Beyral," he said, gesturing at the lithe woman.

"Hello," Beyral said, and actually waved. Clearly, another of Grace's students.

"Um, nice to meet you," Jake said awkwardly. He forced himself to hold her eyes – he'd always found the athletic type irresistible, and Beyral was built like a triathlete.

The two Na'vi were watching him. "So now what?" Jake finally asked. He raised Neytiri's bow. "Are we gonna shoot?"

"Yes," Tsu'tey said. "We will shoot. After." He put his own bow down and gestured Jake should do the same.

He carefully leaned Neytiri's bow against a tree, watching as Beyral approached, coming to stand very close. She reached out and squeezed his bicep, poked his chest. She ran a hand down Jake's flat stomach, making his groin flutter. She spoke to Tsu'tey over her shoulder as she watched Jake. Tsu'tey scowled and gave a terse reply.

"What's that?" Jake said, raising his eyebrows.

Beyral grinned at him. "I told him that you are bigger than most Na'vi men." She captured his hand and lifted it, splaying his fingers. "And your hands are different. But this should not hurt you with shooting." She let go and stepped back.

"Thanks, I guess," Jake said. "So what are we shooting at?"

But Beyral was shaking her head. "After." She gestured at Tsu'tey, who was slowly pacing back and forth, watching them.

"Sky People fight with weapons," the warrior said. He tossed his head dismissively. "They do not fight with their bodies. Dreamwalkers like Grace Augustine have strong bodies, but do not fight at all." He squared up to Jake, raising his chin slightly. "You said you are a warrior. We will fight. No weapons."

"Fight?" Jake raised his hands, half-laughing. "Whoa, hold on. Why?"

Beyral answered. "Tsu'tey wishes to test himself against a Sky Person." She grinned as Tsu'tey glared at her for interrupting. "And if we are to teach you, we must see what you know already."

Right, Jake thought. He heard what she said, but the real reason was expressed in something below language, across species. Before yesterday, Jake would have dismissed it as simply a dominance matter, a chance at cowing the outsider. But the small gestures of respect Tsu'tey had given him made Jake think this was more about... some kind of test, a test to see if he was worthy of the warrior's respect. And this wouldn't be some sort of tag-point system, he knew.

Been a long time since combat training, he thought. And no one said anything about fighting in an alien's body!

"We will fight until one of us says stop," Tsu'tey said, breaking Jake from his thoughts. "Until then – "

"I've got it," Jake said, baring his fangs in an unconscious snarl. He shifted his stance a little, made ready to move. "Fight til someone calls 'uncle'."

Beyral looked back and forth at them, and then stepped away. It began immediately.

Tsu'tey flashed forward, low and quick, lashing out with his fist – he was much quicker than Jake had thought.

Jake dodged to the side, his hands working automatically through half-remembered drills. He batted Tsu'tey's fist aside and stepped away, putting some distance between them.

In the second it took Tsu'tey to recover, Jake could already see that Tsu'tey fought like an animal, on instinct. That could help Jake, with his more regimented training. On the other hand, it could also put him at a huge disadvantage against the warrior's unpredictable responses. He waited, up on the balls of his feet.

Tsu'tey closed the distance again, this time grabbing Jake's arms when he tried to dodge backwards. They stepped close, each struggling to force down the other's arms. Beyral had been right – Jake was stronger than Tsu'tey. If he could force the Na'vi's arms down, it would open him up for a nice headbutt, and that might end the contest quickly.

He didn't have a chance to test his theory, though, as Tsu'tey hooked a leg behind his and surged forward, sending Jake sprawling over. He landed heavily on his back, while Tsu'tey fell into a graceful roll and was back on his feet in an instant. He didn't press his advantage, though, and backed away while Jake got up.

He ran a hand through his hair, pushing back the loose strands. Now the old rhythm of combat was pulsing with his heart, and this time Jake took the offensive, jumping at Tsu'tey without warning. When Tsu'tey swung, Jake grabbed his fist, yanking the warrior down as he brought his knee up into his midsection. Tsu'tey's breath exploded out of him, and Jake followed it up with a sharp punch to the ribs. He knew a quick strike with a sharp impact would easily pop a human's rib, but he wondered if it would work on a Na'vi's reinforced bones.

It didn't. Tsu'tey grunted but shrugged off the blow, and now he was inside Jake's reach. In a move that was so fast Jake would have to later get details from Beyral, Tsu'tey spun a tight circle, and on the roundabout he smashed Jake across the face with the back of his fist.

It felt like being backhanded by an iron gauntlet. Everything flashed white as he reeled off balance, face hot and numb, ears ringing. He tripped over his own feet and fell heavily to the ground, already tasting blood. I've been knocked out more times since coming here, he thought vaguely, blinking hard.

A shadow fell over him, and he groped at the ground, trying to get his balance to get to his feet. But strong hands grabbed him under the arms and roughly hauled him back to his feet. Jake raised his head, saw Tsu'tey stepping back, breathing heavily, holding the spot where Jake had punched him. Beyral was approaching them again, grinning.

"It is done," the Tsu'tey said. "No more." He eyed Jake critically. "You are too slow," he said. "But you are strong. You fight well for a Sky Person." With that he went to retrieve his bow, saying over his shoulder, "now we will shoot."

Beyral leaned in close as Jake rubbed his head.

"Tsu'tey leads the hunters, but I shoot best among the Omaticaya," she said, very close to his ear. "Make sure you listen to me, and you will be shoot better than Tsu'tey some day."

Tsu'tey came back holding Jake's bow as well, which he tossed to him.

"There is much to do," Tsu'tey said, glancing at Beyral. "We will show you simple things today. Neytiri will show you more, when she is well." He tossed his head for the others to follow and set off back for the forest. Massaging his swelling jaw, Jake had a feeling that tonight, for once he would look forward to returning to his human body.

Later, Beyral found Jake as the clan ate dinner, and she and a number of other hunters came to sit with him. They ate in silence, but it was nice to not have to eat alone.

When Jake later joined Neytiri at her hammock, her eyes opened wide at the sight of his face. He'd washed the blood away, but he retained a swollen, slightly puffy look, and a dark bruise stretched over his cheek.

"Jake!" she said, dropping an arrow she'd been working on. "What has happened now?"

"Male bonding," Jake grunted, swinging into his hammock. His arms, shoulders, back – everything – ached. He gave Neytiri a quick rundown of the day. She dismissed the fight with Tsu'tey with little emotion, as though it were to be expected.

"Beyral is teaching you," Neytiri repeated, raising her eyebrows. "That is very good. Beyral is best with a bow."

"Yeah, she said I was a natural," Jake groaned, stretching out on his back. "She's really the best?"

"Yes," Neytiri said. "Since we were young."

Jake rolled over onto his side to face her. "So you two are the same age, you grew up together?"

Neytiri half smiled, shrugged and looked away. "I am daughter of the Tsahik. I was often not with the others. Mother had many things to teach me. But we are the same age."

"Oh," Jake said, rolling onto his back. "What about Tsu'tey?"

"They have been friends since we were all young. Beyral helps him lead our hunters."

Jake put his hands behind his head. The Na'vi social web was obviously just as tangled as any human village's. But he wondered which threads led back to Neytiri, who, sitting alone in the falling dusk, cut a lonely figure. Yet another question to ask Grace.

Wood clacked together as the Tsahik's daughter tied a tight bundle of arrows. Warm stars glowed through Hometree's branches. The last sounds of the night were Neytiri's.


	11. Chapter 11

_Authore note: It's been pointed out to me that the talented Na'vi huntress isn't 'Beyral', but rather 'Peyral'. Thanks for the catch, and thanks for reading!_

It was the smell that woke Jake up.

Perhaps he'd been sleeping more lightly than usual, or was half-roused by a dream. He didn't usually open his eyes until Grace nudged him on her way to make coffee. The biologist woke hours before anyone else, seeming almost resentful over being kept from her work by sleep.

He sat up and rubbed his thumb and forefinger at his eyes, breathing in slowly, trying to place the scent.

The memory arrived suddenly in a rush of green – Easter morning, a mild spring day, new growth on trees bare from winter. It was that smell – a fresh, clean smell that was now gone from much of Earth. He only even remembered it vaguely.

What time was it? Outside, the sky was the pale pink-gold of early morning. It didn't sound like Grace was up yet – even after only a short time in the small lab, he'd begun to pick out the sounds and rhythms of the others.

He wheeled himself through cool blue shadows, careful not to knock anything sitting on the tables. Outside, the sun hadn't escaped its low blanket of clouds, and the surrounding mountains were a feathered gray, smeared with pastel green. The smell was stronger outside, and he wheeled to the edge of their little plateau, beyond which was a sheer rock face dropping off into the fog. He found himself grinning at nothing, and, embarrassed, looked down and shook his head. Some war-hardened veteran he was.

He had been sitting alone for a few minutes before he heard the hiss of the airlock behind him. It was Grace, dressed in a tattered gray robe pulled tightly closed, feet bare beneath the hem of her light pants, exopack on.

"Were lucky the day and night cycle is similar to Earths.' She came to stand with him. "Otherwise we'd have a lot more trouble interacting with the Na'vi."

Jake nodded, looking out over the forest.

"Up a little early aren't you?" Grace pressed.

"Yeah, woke up and didn't feel like going back to sleep. How'd you hear me coming out?"

"There's a little buzzer near my bed that goes off when an airlock is opened, you know."

"Oh. Sorry about that." His voice was vacant as he looked down at the sprawling, primeval forest. He didn't notice Grace roll her eyes at his absent tone.

"You're not going to make a habit of this, are you?" she said.

"Of what? Oh, yeah. Look, can't you just turn the thing off?"

"Yes, I can shut it off. I meant you, though. You only got, what, six hours of sleep last night? You need more than that."

"Not like I wear myself out, doc, lying in a box all day. I'm good."

"I'm not talking about your body, I'm talking about your brain." She tapped a finger on the side of his head. "Or whatever you've got that passes for one. Your body lies there all day, but your brain is experiencing everything your avatar does. It'll get worn out, just like if you pulled a regular all nighter."

Jake shrugged, leaning back to balance his chair on the wheels in the soft dirt.

"So you're up," Grace said at last. "We might as well get you linked in, since there's not much else you can do but get in my way." She laughed as Jake wheeled quickly towards the airlock. "Whoa, okay, okay."

Jake waited impatiently for the pressure door to open. He wasn't embarrassed for his eagerness. Of all people, Grace would understand. The link unit didn't seal him away from the world, it opened it to him.

Neytiri wasn't in her hammock.

In the few days before the disastrous trip to the schoolhouse and everything that had followed, the two of them had established something of a schedule, where he would wake at a specific time, and she would be waiting for him. But today, he was a good three hours early.

Jake was feeling more comfortable every day, though, and now he felt almost natural as he made his way alone down the great spiraling path to the forest floor. The other Na'vi stared less, or else he was just becoming inured to their looks. Either way, when he reached the bottom, he felt mostly at ease. It wasn't home yet, but now he felt like it could eventually become that.

The Na'vi were early risers, and many were awake already – hunters slipping out into the forest, men and women feeding babies, adolescents tending the cooking fires – Grace had told him that the fires were never permitted to go out completely.

His looked over the fires, skimmed over the groups of Na'vi huddled here and there around the great trunk of Hometree. He had been looking for Neytiri, but he saw first her father. He was hunkered near the fire, eating slowly from a bowl, and he suddenly raised his wrinkled face and motioned Jake over.

Jake hesitated before squatting down into the position the Na'vi favored over sitting. "Um, good morning," he said.

The older Na'vi grunted noncommittally, but he handed Jake the bowl he had been eating out of, motioning for jhim to take from it. Inside was a pile of what seemed to be a kind of brown root, with pulpy white ends where it had been cut down to smaller sizes. Jake took one, sniffed it, then chewed.

His eyes opened wide in pleased surprise when the root exuded a gush of cool, fresh juice. He chewed more confidently, nodding to himself. "Hey, that's really good," he said, swallowing.

Eytukan offered him the bowl again. "Neytiri is with Mo'at," he said, carefully forming the words. "Mo'at... teaches her in mornings."

"Oh," Jake said. Like a cat from Earth, his ears layed down a little.

Eytukan cleared his throat and rose easily to his feet. Jake followed suit, just to be on the polite side. He accepted the bowl when Eytukan handed it to him. "I must go," the tribal leader said. "Goodmorning, Jakesully."

He called out to a passing Na'vi man who looked even older than himself, and the two walked off in rapid conversation.

Jake regained his seat, shaking his head at the machine-gun speed of their fading speech. He could barely stumble through a few simple phrases yet. Thank god most of the higher ranking Na'vi spoke at least a little English. Some were completely fluent – Grace had told him a little bit about her school and the amazing speed at which the younger Na'vi had picked up the language.

He brought the bowl up to fish out another root, and jumped a little in surprise when a slim Na'vi hand reached over his shoulder to take the same piece he had been reaching for. It was Peyral, squatting next to him now, chewing happily.

"I was gonna eat that," Jake protested.

Peyral swallowed and showed her sharp fangs in a grin. "Next time you will eat faster." She looked over at Eytukan, who was standing now by the massive wall of the trunk, talking with a few elderly Na'vi. "He does not speak English often, even for Grace. But he is very grateful that you brought Neytiri back safely."

"So why do you speak it so well?" Jake asked. "Even your accent is a lot less thick than Neytiri's, or Tsu'tey's."

Peyral shrugged. "We all went to Grace's school, but Neytiri often had duties as Tsahik's daughter. Tsu'tey had obligations as well. I did not, and I spent more time there. I was glad when they let Grace back into the village." She gave him intense eyes, and he knew she gave him all the credit for that.

"You are looking for Neytiri?" Peyral went on. "She is with Mo'at. In the mornings they meditate, and Mo'at teaches her what she knows of Eywa."

"Eytukan mentioned it," Jake said. "Only now I guess I don't know what to do with myself – usually Neytiri is there when I wake up."

Peyral looked over her shoulder towards the massive columns of the tree. "Will you come with me" She locked eyes with him again. "In the mornings, I run in the forest. For strength."

Run? Jake hadn't considered going into the forest – it seemed that every time he left Hometree he or someone else nearly got killed. But the more he thought about it, the more he found the idea appealing. He still wasn't over the high he felt when he ran with his new legs. "That sounds real good," he said, "I liked running. Like it, I mean."

Peyral grinned and stood. They left the interior of Hometree without a word, making for the open forest. "I am glad you woke up early," Peyral added, looking over at him. "Few Na'vi will run just for the sake of it."

"I'm not like the others," Jake said. They began to jog, Peyral flowed lightly over and around roots and branches, Jake slightly more awkwardly. "So why do you do it?" he asked.

"So that I will be tired enough to sleep at night," she called over her shoulder, laughing. "Come!" With that the warmup was over, and Peyral put on a dazzling burst of speed, leaping a long, low puddle, one leg kicked out for a graceful landing. Jake laughed a little breathlessly and pounded through the same puddle in a spray of water. They didn't talk after that. Speech wasn't necessary. Jake caught up to her and they ran side by side into the endless green.

They returned nearly two hours later, both covered with a sheen of sweat, though Peyral was barely breathing hard. Jake got the feeling she had gone a little easy on him. Either way, he was glad they had run along the soft forest floor – his feet weren't as tough yet as they needed to be to run along the tree branches for too long.

Hometree was more active now that the sun was rising in full strength. There were more Na'vi at the cook fires now, possibly preparing already for the evening meal. Some sat on the ground in circles, talking and laughing, weaving, making arrows – he saw one Na'vi woman who appeared to be skinning a drum. Without thinking, Jake found himself eagerly scanning the groups of Na'vi, looking for the white bandages that would identify Neytiri,and was disappointed when he saw nothing.

"There is a spring I bathe in, after I run," Peyral said, capturing his attention. "It cools the skin. Would you like to come with me?"

Bathe with her? Jake raised his eyebrows, taken off guard. On Earth it would have been considered a proposition. But the Na'vi weren't human, and he couldn't judge them by human standards.

Peyral was watching him expectantly, but he was saved the awkwardness of a decision when he finally spotted Neytiri, coming around the spiral path that ran around the trunk of Hometree. Her bandages looked fresh and new, making Jake wonder if Grace had linked in to check on her. Neytiri, too, was searching among the roaming Na'vi.

Jake shook his head at Peyral. "I think Neytiri is looking for me," he said, "Raincheck," he added automatically.

Peyral raised her own eyebrows. "Rain check?"

"It's – nevermind. Not important."

"You say strange things," Peyral said. "Even for a Dreamwalker." She grinned at him. She smiled more than any Na'vi he'd met yet. "I run most mornings if there is no hunt the night before. You should join me again. " Then she made a strange, high-pitched sound, like a monkey combined with a chirping bird.

Neytiri immediately looked over from across the way, gaze flicking from Peyral to Jake. And was it his imagination, or did her eyes narrow a little? Hard to tell.

When they were close enough, the two women greeted each other in Na'vi, Peyral going so far as to make the traditional formal gesture Norm had taught him about.

"I will leave you with Neytiri," Peyral said. "Goodbye, Jakesully." She glanced at Neytiri before turning to walk away. The other woman watched Peyral leave, face unreadable.

Jake took opportunity to examine her.. Her color was better – Na'vi had blue skin, but they could still look pale, in their own way. Even wrapped in a mile of bandages, Neytiri looked healthier here, among her people, than she had in some time.

"You are covered in sweat," Neytiri said, her nose twitching. "And Peyral. What were you two doing?"

Jake managed to turn his laugh into choked cough, feeling his face heat up. He knew better than to think she was implying something, but it was still funny. "We were running," he said. "I woke up early and you were gone with Mo'at."

Neytiri searched his face for a moment, frowning slightly. "We will ride horses this morning," she said after a moment. "You must learn how to properly use the bond. It is important for later."

Jake started to ask what she meant, but she was already walking - fairly stalking - away. He followed her as she headed out of Hometree and for the forest, for the clearing they had used the first time he'd tried to ride.

"It is not important now," she said over her shoulder, as if sensing his confusion. "It is best that we focus on one thing at a time."

They walked most of the way in silence. Jake would have liked to talk – he had a dozen questions that had sprung up just since the morning – but he got the feeling she wasn't in the mood for it. He had been hoping the whole near-death experience might have brought them closer together, and in some ways it definitely had, but figuring Neytiri out was just as complex as ever. He wondered if him spending time with Peyral was what had annoyed her, but dismissed the idea – this wasn't high school.

Neytiri had told him to focus first on learning how to bond with his horse, and they worked on it for over an hour. He made steady progress, wondering if it was it because he was feeling more comfortable with his avatar, or with his situation among the Na'vi in general.

Neytiri's mood steadily improved as well as the day progressed, and she laughed and teased him and helped him to his feet when the direhorse tossed him off.. Soon, they were both laughing and covered in mud.

He cursed loudly when he was again tossed to the ground. And if he had known what the next days would bring, he would have focused more closely then on Neytiri's bright laugh.


End file.
